The present disclosure relates to integrating computer operating systems with content offered by web based entities. A trend in the industry is to move towards a client-server architecture where the operating system has a relegated role in a user's computing experience. While the vision of a computer running a thin operating system and relying on software services managed by a service provider is compelling, the reality is that a user may have a frustrating computing experience if all possible tasks are performed through a browser, or third party emulation software.
There is a need for a hybrid approach, where users may operate a computer that has a familiar user interface that is adopted by a large and diverse user base and continue to benefit from having access to web based services and applications. In such a hybrid computing environment users may continue to use local storage, install software locally, and utilize services stored and maintained by web based entities without having to open up a web browser and sign into multiple service providers. This hybrid approach may be realized by integrating the logon process of a computer with internet based services in order to give a user seamless access to their locally installed software and services that are maintained by internet based service providers.
The computing environments of today require a user to go through multiple steps in order to access online content. These steps must be performed after the user logs in and require the user to take the time to familiarize themselves with the layout of any desktop they try to access files from. A user can configure their own computer to separately log into all of their internet based services, but this occurs after the user has logged into the operating system and the system has loaded. Additionally, when a user is working with their home computer, outside of the enterprise context, this configuration can not be transferred to another computer making it necessary to either take their own laptop when traveling, or suffer through an impoverished computing experience. It's true that when traveling you can either access a completely virtualized environment through a VPN which is slow and operates within a partition, or sign into the individual services you want (which may require some configuration of the local device), but instantaneous access to the full range of services while preserving the speed and convenience of a local computing experience is not possible.